Mayor of Portland teargassed by federal agents during protest

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Portland mayor Ted Wheeler was among those who suffered teargas shooting amidst Black Lives Matter protest in the city. 
• While Wheeler openly said that he was against the deployment of federal enforcers, protesters continued to mock him and accused him of the more massive police presence.
• Trump announced that he is to install federal forces in cities where crime is widely rampant.

Ted Wheeler, Portland’s mayor, said Donald Trump called for civil unrest following the protester teargassing incident initiated by federal enforcement officers to suppress Black Lives Matter rallies in the city.

But the mayor, who was also caught in the midst of the teargassing, became the focus of the protesters’ fury as they said he was the one responsible for the police deployment.

Wheeler described the teargas stings and made his breathing difficult, saying the crowd did not provoke the law enforcers to respond with violence.

As he spoke beside the protesters outside the central courtyard,  Wheeler said the situation has turned into urban warfare, which President Donald Trump initiated himself.

Early on Thursday, demonstrations were more peaceful than preceding nights as the enforcement authorities successfully put up a more durable barrier around the courthouse.

However, demonstrators were able to break the barriers on some nights, but the more sturdy defenses have limited their reach.  Protesters weren’t able to reach the courthouse’s front where most troops of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) group deployed by Trump stayed behind the fence. Their position allowed them to fire teargas over the barrier.

The recent incident only showed that the federal forces weren’t effective in implementing Trump’s order to stop the violence in Portland.

The DHS enforcers were only limited inside the courthouse vicinity while the protesters are in control of the area outside the barrier.

In the early parts of the evening, Wheeler tried to assure the protesters that he is for police reform; however, the crowd gave him a negative response. Many people remained doubtful of their mayor, who was also Portland’s police commissioner by law.

Demonstrators ridiculed the mayor, calling him “Fed Wheeler” and “Ded Wheeler, and they thought Wheeler hadn’t done enough to help the Black Lives Matters initiative.

The rally disbands after dark, and when most protesters leave for home, the focus then turns to the nearby federal courthouse. A diehard group of demonstrators is also focused on breaking inside the courthouse, which makes them directly target DHS forces.

Night in and night out, law enforcement officers have countered with teargas and flash-bangs, with instances where they also harshly beaten activists.

The mayor’s joining was hours following the urging of attorneys for Oregon to a judge to slap a restraining order versus federal agents deployed to stop the protests.

On Wednesday, Trump proclaimed that federal law officers would be assigned to Chicago and Albuquerque, New Mexico, to put an end to the violence. Democratic mayors of at least 15 cities opposed Trump’s action.

Source: The Guardian